Interview with Nikko Turner

Nikko has just completed her 2nd year studying Film, Tv & Digital Production. The films she enjoys watching and studying most are thrillers and psychological films. She also enjoys being on set and applying knowledge from production to theoretical contexts in her work. 

Nikko’s top tips:

• Gather course content and find key terms that relate to the essay topic.

• Have a thesaurus at hand when writing.

• Remember to consume the course content- it’s there for a reason!

ISOBEL: For this interview, I'm joined by Nikko, who is a film student. We'll be discussing her essay on the topic of the political correctness in The Tiger of Eschnapur and Eat, Pray, Love. So, if you just want to start by talking about what your essay is about and what interested you in this specific topic.

NIKKO: Yeah! So, as you said, it focuses on 2 films: The Tiger of Eschnapur and Eat, Pray, Love. I kind of discuss the concept of political correctness and exoticism. And what interested me was the overlap between the two films. They're made roughly fifty years apart, one’s a German film and the other is an American film. And on the surface, they're two very different films! But once you look closer, there's a lot of similarities between them, and that's what kind of caught my attention.

ISOBEL: Thank you. How do you go about planning and researching when you're writing stuff like this? Because I know, I mean, I do, I always have this issue of “how am I even going to start?”

NIKKO: Yeah! So in terms of gathering research, I usually start with course content and then I use key terms relating to the argument that I want to make to find other sources. And I just gather them all up. Then using those, I make a plan. I try not to stick to the plan too much. It's more just to kind of help me get started. And then from there. I kind of see what direction it goes in.

ISOBEL: When you were researching, were there any particular articles, or books, or just authors in general that you found useful?

NIKKO: There was one book that was a part of the course content. It was Orientalism by Edward Said. I think that was probably the most useful one just because it kind of gave me the basic understanding that I needed to go forward and then further understand other things that I came to research.

ISOBEL: Yeah, if you're doing an essay, look at the articles they give you from the course because they will always come in useful! Were there any issues that you came across when writing it? Like, did you find anything a particular challenge? And, how did you overcome that to end up with a really great, cohesive essay?

NIKKO: I think something that is a bit of a challenge across all my essays is just finding the right words to convey what I want to say to its full extent. And it's a really simple thing! But I think just having a thesaurus on hand is really useful in finding the perfect words to say what you want to say.

ISOBEL: That's really interesting. I struggle as well, translating words in my brain to page sometimes. That does just get you a further. I thought it was really interesting how Eat, Pray, Love is a film from this century, but still is considered a very ignorant film, and still lacks the idea that the Western world have more power and more social status than the “other”, that they state in the film. Is there any kind of film that you would argue against this and show its political correctness and its diversity?

NIKKO: Nothing that comes to mind. I'm sure there are, but I think because it's quite, like a subconscious and unintentional thing, I think, depending on how you look at any film, you can argue for either side, and it's not necessarily something that you can pick up on just by watching it like the first time around, I think.

ISOBEL: Was there anything you feel that you gained from writing this specific essay?

NIKKO: I think when it came to the structure and the process of writing it, I usually am quite reluctant to kind of go in an order that's not chronological, but I think this time round I kind of just started writing wherever I wanted, and I felt like that actually helped, like to get my thought process going. And then as long as you kind of make sure that it all flows by the end of it, I think that was really helpful in writing it.

ISOBEL: I kind of do the same thing! I start off with an idea, see where it takes me, and then I usually end up doing the introduction and conclusion last to make sure that it all flows properly. Looking back now at your second year as a whole, is there any key advice that you would give to students studying film or within just the realm of the Media Arts school, I guess?

NIKKO: I think, students get told this all the time but, just watch films! And I mean, I kind of got sick of hearing it as well because it seems like such an obvious thing, but it is really helpful just to kind of have that knowledge behind everything when you're writing it.

ISOBEL: I mean, I'm a music student, so just consume the content that you're learning.

NIKKO: Yeah!

ISOBEL: You do get told it so much, but also you just completely forget sometimes! And then you're like, “wait, I can actually like, listen or watch this and that might actually help me?”

NIKKO: Yeah exactly!

ISOBEL: It’s unspoken, but I think it's a really good way to just get started even! And I mean, how do you write about something that you don't even know about, you know?

NIKKO: Yeah, definitely.

ISOBEL: Amazing. Thank you so much for coming on!

NIKKO: Thank you!